Surgical sponge and method of making same



May 14, 1963 P. A. FLORIO 3,089,495 SURGICAL SPONGE AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed Aug. 8, 1958 Tlt .1.

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,089,495 SURGICAL SPONGE AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Patrick Anthony Florio, Whitestone, N.Y., assiguor to Johnson 8: Johnson, a corporation of New Jersey Filed Aug. 8, 1958, Ser- No. 754,011 12 Claims. (Cl. 128-296) The present invention is drawn to globular absorbent bodies and to the method of making the same.

it has heretofore been proposed to make a globular sponge by taking a swatch of fabric and wrapping the same around a wad of absorbent filler by bringing the edges of the swatch together into a neck forming a bag or sack in which the filler is contained. The neck is then secured by stitching. Such a process and sponge is disclosed in the Mott Patent No. 2,400,250.

The globular sponges prepared in accordance with the Mott teaching had the objectionable characteristic that the tails, which resulted from bringing the edge of the fabric swatch together, had raveling edges because they were made from gauze squares haying unselvaged edges. In order to overcome this, it was suggested to turn these edges in during the manufacture of the sponge so that there would be no raw edges exposed from which raveling would occur. This is described in a later patent to Riordan, No. 2,755,805. Riordan, in order to maintain the inturned edges, applies adhesive to the neck which is then rolled over and pressed into contact with the body of the sponge.

It is an object of the present invention to prepare sponges of the general type described in the Mott patent, No. 2,400,250, which are free from raveling edges and which can at the same time be readily manufactured without the necessity of turning in the edge of the fabric forming the outer covering of the sponge after the neck has been formed. It is a further object of the present invention to stabilize and secure the neck by the simple procedure of application of heat and pressure thereto without the necessity of complex stitching machinery, as needed by Mott, or the necessity of the extra step of turning over the neck and securing it against the sponge body in its in-turned state.

These and further objects and advantages have been accomplished by using in place of the gauze outer wrapping, employed by Mott and Riordan, a pervious fabric which contains in its composition either thermoplastic fibers or a dispersion or intermittent coating of thermoplastic material. This thermoplastic material not only prevents loose fibers or threads from raveling at the edge of the (fabric but also acts to stabilize the neck of the sponge through the simple expedient of the application of heat and pressure to the neck after it has been formed.

The invention is further illustrated by reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a wad of absorbent material lying on a swatch of heat-scalable fabric;

FIG. 2, with sub-figures a through 0, shows the stabilizing of the sponge neck formed by drawing the edges of the heat-scalable fabric swatch of FIG. 1 up together around the absorbent Wad; and

FIG. 3 is an illustration of the completed sponge.

The sponge, up to the point illustrated in FIG. 2(a), may be formed by any convenient means. It may, for example, be formed by placing the absorbent wedding 10 onto the heat-scalable fabric swatch 11 and then bringing the edge 12 of the swatch up together around the wadding to form a neck or tail 13. Another method would be to place the square of heat-scalable fabric over an aperture and align the absorbent wad 10 on the heat-scalable fabric over the aperture so that when the wad is pushed through the aperture the heat-scalable fabric 11 encloses the wad 10 on all sides and gathers the edge 12 into a neck or tail 13. The sponge up to the point illustrated in FIG. 2(a) can also be prepared by the method described in the Mott Patent No. 2,400,250.

After the heat-scalable fabric 11 has been drawn up around the main body of absorbent 10, the neck is grasped by clamp means 14, the body 15 of the sponge is turned to give the neck a partial twist and the neck is stabilized in its twisted state by the application of heat and pressure thereto through a heated clamp 16. These steps are illustrated respectively in FIG. 2, sub-figures (a), (b) and (c). The heated clamp presses the fabric of the neck together while softening the thermoplastic material present in the fabric .to cause the same to stabilize the neck in its twisted state. In place of the heated clamp, which would give a fiat seal to the tail, a heated split ring or other curved means of simultaneously applying heart and pressure may be used to give a tail having an elliptical or round cross section.

Turning the sponge so as to twist the neck or tail 13 prior to scaling gives :a tighter Wrap of the fabric 11 around the wadding 10. The twist also makes the tail 13 much more flexible with respect to the main body 15 of the sponge. A further factor which adds substantially to the flexibility of the neck 15 is the intermittent bonding obtained by the thermoplastic material contained in the fiabric swatch 11. Where the swatch is composed of a fabric containing. 'a mixture of thermoplastic and nonthermoplastic fibers or -a dispersion or intermittent coating of thermoplastic material, the bond obtained at the neck is intermittent and not continuous. As a result, the

tail 13 is substantially more flexible than it would be if a conventional gauze containing no thermoplastic material were used and the tail formed by the gathered edge were then stabilized by coating with a cement or a thermoplastic material.

Any pervious heat-scalable fabric may be used for the fabric swatch 11 as long as the thermoplastic material therein is not harmful to body tissues and will not soften or dissolve at body temperatures. It is generally preferred that the thermoplastic material be stable at temperatures normally used for steam sterilization, which are generally in the range of about 200 to 250 F. However, thermoplastic materials having somewhat lower melting temperatures can be used as long as they do not overly soften at temperatures of about to F which are the temperatures generally employed in chemical sterilization.

The thermoplastic material may be present either on the surface or throughout the fabric as intermittent particles; it may be present as a light intermittent coating on the surface as where the fabric has been kiss coated with a molten thermoplastic material; or it may be present in the fabric in the form of thermoplastic fibers. Also, the thermoplastic material may be limited to portions near the edge of the fabric swatch from which the sponge is to be formed. Heat-scalable fabrics formed in any of these manners may be used in practicing the present invention. Among suitable thermoplastic materials are viscose, cellulose acetate, nylon (polyarnide condensation polymer from hexamethylene diamine and adip-ic acid), Vinyon (vinyl chioride-vinyl acetate copolymer), Dacron (terephthalate polymer), Saran (vinylidene chloride polymer), Dynel (vinyl chloride and acrylonitrile copolymer), and polyethylene.

Heat-sealable fabrics found to be particularly suitable are those containing a mixture of thermoplastic and nonthermoplastic fibers, the non-thermoplastic fibers being formed of cotton or rayon and the thermoplastic fibers by weight and being present in the range of 2 to 30% by weight Example Sponges were prepared by taking 2" X 2" pieces of non-woven fabric containing Vinyon fibers on one surface. About 20 grains of cellulose fluff were placed in the center of each piece on the surface containing the Vinyon fibers. The outer edge of the fabric was then collected together wrapping the fabric around the cellulose fluff absorbent filler, the surface containing the thermoplastic Vinyon fibers being inside. The collected edge, which forms the neck of a sack containing the filler, was then held while the body of the sponge was turned about /2 turn. The twisted neck was then clamped between two heated surfaces which compressed the neck and simultaneously caused softening of the thermoplastic Vinyon fibers and bonding the fabric edge.

The fabric used was a non-woven rayon fabric formed of 50/50 regular dull/extra dull rayon fibers bound together by viscose printing of about 16 diagonal lines per square inch. One surface of the fabric contained Vinyon fibers in an amount of 6% by weight Vinyon fibers based on the total weight of the fabric. The fabric had a weight of about 228 grains per square yard. Vinyon fibers are synthetic, thermoplastic fibers formed from a copolymer of vinyl acetate and vinyl chloride.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A surgical sponge free from raveling having a generally bulbous appearance and an extending neck comprising a core of absorbent material and an outer wrapping of pervious heat-scalable fabric containing an intermittently dispersed thermoplastic material, the edge of said fabric gathered together to form the neck of a bag enclosing said absorbent core, said neck extending out from the bulbous body of the sponge and said gathered fabric edge forming said neck containing a twist and being held in said gathered and twisted state by the thermoplastic material in the fabric of said gathered edge.

2. A surgical sponge of claim 1 in which the heat seal at said neck is an intermittent seal.

3. A surgical sponge of claim 2 wherein said thermo- 4 plastic material is lightly coated on the surface of said fabric.

4. A surgical sponge of claim 3 wherein the thermoplastic coating is on the inner side of said heat-scalable fabric.

5. A surgical sponge of claim 3 wherein the thermoplastic material is polyethylene.

6. A surgical sponge of claim 2 wherein said thermoplastic material is dispersed throughout the body of said fabric.

7. A surgical sponge of claim 1 wherein said thermoplastic material is in the form of thermoplastic fibers.

8. A surgical sponge of claim 7 wherein the heatsealable fabric comprises a mixture of thermoplastic fibers and fibers of the group consisting of cotton and rayon, the thermoplastic fibers being present in an amount of about 2 to 30% by weight of the fabric.

9. A surgical sponge of claim 8 wherein the thermoplastic fibers are present on and near the inner surface of said heat-scalable fabric Wrap.

10. A surgical sponge of claim 9 wherein the thermoplastic fibers are present in an amount of about 5 to 10% by weight of said fabric.

11. A surgical sponge of claim 10 in which the heatscalable fibers are formed of a copolymer of vinyl acetate and vinyl chloride.

12. The method of making bulbous surgical sponges comprising taking a swatch of fabric having a heat-sealable edge, wrapping said fabric around an absorbent wad while bringing the edge of said fabric together to form the neck of a sack containing said wad, grasping said neck, turning said sack to twist said neck and then sealing said fabric to itself at said neck through the application of heat and pressure.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. A SURGICAL SPONGE FREE FROM RAVELING HAVING A GENERALLY BULBOUS APPEARANCE AND AN EXTENDING NECK COMPRISING A CORE OF ABSORBENT MATERIAL AND AN OUTER WRAPPING OF PREVIOUS HEAT-SEALABLE FABRIC CONTAINING AN INTERMITTENTLY DISPERSED THERMOPLASTIC MATERIAL, THE EDGE OF SAID FABRIC GATHERED TOGETHER TO FORM THE NECK OF A BAG ENCLOSING SAID ABSORBENT CORE, SAID NECK EXTENDING OUT FROM THE BULBOUS BODY OF THE SPONGE AND SAID GATHERED FABRIC EDGE FORMING SAID NECK CONTAINING A TWIST AND BEING HELD IN SAID GATHERED AND TWISTED STATED BY THE THERMOPLASTIC MATERIAL IN THE FABRIC OF SAID GATHERED EDGE. 